Non-BJP Ruled States Move Supreme Court In Favour Of Right To Privacy

Three non-BJP ruled states and one union territory today moved the Supreme Court seeking to intervene in the ongoing hearing on the issue of whether the Right to Privacy can be declared as one of the Fundamental Rights under the Constitution.

Besides West Bengal, Congress-led states Karnataka and Punjab, and union territory Puducherry took a stand opposite to the Central government which had said that Right to Privacy is a common law right and not a Fundamental Right.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the three states and the union territory, initiated his arguments before a nine-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar and said that in the light of technological advancement, the court is needed to take a fresh look on the Right to Privacy and its contours in the modern day.

"Privacy cannot be an absolute right. But it is a Fundamental Right. This court needs to strike a balance," Mr Sibal submitted before the bench also comprising Justices J Chelameswar, SA Bobde, RK Agrawal, Rohinton Fali Nariman, Abhay Manohar Sapre, DY Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and S Abdul Nazeer.

The hearing is in progress.

The Supreme Court had on July 18 set up the Constitution bench after the matter was referred to a larger bench by a five-judge bench. The petitioners had claimed that collection and sharing of biometric information, as required under the Aadhaar scheme, was a breach of the "fundamental" right to privacy.

The Centre had on July 19 submitted in the Supreme Court that Right to Privacy cannot fall in the bracket of fundamental rights as there are binding decisions of larger benches that it is only a common law right evolved through judicial pronouncements.